The Vegan Debate

The vegan debate, for so long an ethical and moral debate - and slightly political - has become highly political and very emotionally charged in the last few months.

One of the chief reasons for this was the resignation of the editor of Waitrose Food magazine after some ill-judged anti-vegan feedback he gave to a writer pitching some vegan cooking ideas. You can read the writer’s full account of the saga here.

Both protagonists in this story have received backlashes and abuse from the grubbier elements of both social media and the tabloid press, but hopefully the majority of people has risen above this and experienced a raising level of awareness of the vegan lifestyle. At its heart is the moral issue, but the bald economic fact is that at current population growth levels the planet will not be able to provide animal-based food for humans indefinitely. Not a problem for our generation, but debate and action now is important so that future generations have a choice rather than Hobson’s choice.

So what’s the smRt stance on this? For those who have made the decision to go vegan for whatever their personal motivation, seaweed is a good source of the nutrients they may lack with a plant-based diet. Not just any seaweed; the right balance of the right seaweeds mixed into foods in quantities and strengths that transfer all of the health benefits of this vital sea vegetable and none of the seaweed taste. If you love the taste of the sea, then great. Most people don’t, however, and we’ve developed a way of giving you the feel good factor of eating healthy food that tastes good..

The argument many meat-eaters make is that meals don’t taste good without the chewy stuff that they’re used to. Taste is, of course, extremely important, which is why the range of smRt pasta and soon-to-be-released smRt health bars has been developed to be super tasty. For those people who’ve made the choice not to eat meat or fish, or maybe dairy too, our range is a great-tasting option supplying the essential minerals and vitamins that are plentiful in animal-based foods. Seaweed is high in iodine, an essential oiler of wheels like the thyroid, nervous system and metabolism..

From the smRt perspective, you can look at our vegan recipes for great-tasting plant-based meals using iodine-rich seaweed ingredients, or you can consider our range of smRt pastas, Italian artisan varieties which we’ve infused with the right balance of seaweed for your essential iodine intake.